(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system for inducing economic driving of a vehicle that provides an eco driving guide to the user in order to reduce fuel efficiency deviations within the vehicle caused due to generation of a difference in economic driving speed depending on variations of a driving load, a driving speed, and air-conditioning power to thereby induce the economic driving.
(b) Background Art
An electric vehicle (EV) uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. There are three main types of electric vehicles exist, those that are directly powered from an external power source, those that are powered by stored electricity, and those that are powered by an on-board electrical generator, such as an internal combustion engine (a hybrid electric vehicle) or a hydrogen fuel cell. Electric vehicles include, for example, electric cars, trains, lorries, airplanes, boats, motorcycles scooters and the like.
One noted flaw with electric vehicles is that they are limited by the energy density of the battery which can severely limit the distance that the electric vehicle can travel. Thus, they are often considered inferior to the internal combustion engine since the internal combustion engine can typically travel approximately 74% further than a purely electric vehicle with no alternative source of power.
In terms of an energy consumption characteristic of the electric vehicle, however, the electric vehicle has higher energy efficiency than the internal combustion engine and thus makes the vehicle more environmentally friendly and economical. Again, however, the relative energy rate consumed while vehicle driving and supplying air-conditioning in total energy consumption is relatively larger in an electric vehicle than in the internal combustion engine.
Furthermore, the amount of energy increases as a speed increases due to certain characteristics of an electric motor. Thus total consumed energy by one driver may be different from another driver when traveling the same distance at different speeds or when one driver utilizes the air-conditioner, for example, and the other does not.
Thus, the deviation in fuel efficiency is from one driver to another is quite significant in an electric vehicle in comparison to the deviation from one driver to another in an internal combustion engine. As a result, each driver's individual economic driving speed may be different depending on variations in the driving load, driving speed, and air-conditioning power supplied.
Currently, eco-guides have begun to be applied to internal combustion engine vehicles, hybrid vehicles and the like as a method of minimizing sudden acceleration and the use of a significant air-conditioning load. As a result of utilizing these eco-guides within the vehicle, fuel efficiency can be increased.
However, the current eco-guides provided in these vehicles only provide guidance as to the acceleration and minimization of air-conditioning use. There is currently no eco-guide that accounts for an economic driving speed that dynamically adjusts according to driving load, driving speed, and variations in the air-conditioning power.
Thus, since electric vehicle fuel efficiency has an acute sensitivity when if comes to load, driving speed and variations in air conditioning power, the current eco-guide are especially unhelpful in electric vehicles.
However, this problem is not only restricted to electric vehicles, but is also applicable to hybrid vehicles and the internal combustion engine vehicles, just on a smaller scale.
Matters described as the background art are just to provide a background of the present invention, and should not be understood to correspond to the related art which has been already known to those skilled in the art.